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I am asking because, beside Canada and China, all the big player seem to be stuck in either debt problem or the Euro crisis, but it could justbe my mistake...

China has/had bad problems with food price increases and inflation as of late. I believe I heard that pork, the staple meat there, reached 5 USD a half kilo at its peak. The country's also been losing some manufacturing to Cambodia and Vietnam as wages have gone up.

One of the reasons they go through all these loopholes is that the corporate taxes are unreasonably high. I also don't think they should necessarily tax all offshore profits. For instance, the US should only tax Coca Cola's US based profits. The profits it makes in China should be taxes by the Chinese etc.

The issue is that they shunt their profits using artificial wrangling to other countries with almost no taxes, so it appears that the US operation makes no money. That kind of thing isn't on. We're getting to the stage where almost all the worlds companies are being based out of the bahamas!

Perhaps we should abandon taxing companies directly altogether, and instead focus on the stockholders and employees. And if wealthy individuals want to have their residence listed as in another country, well that's another problem! But I suppose you could start by taxing their american assets, and also tax stuff like Stocks a bit more...

There is a common legal loophole with regards to corporate taxes around the world, and that is before the declaration of EBIT, draw as much money out as possible as "capital expenditure on ledger". Then after a while or so, cancel the transaction, the ledger bounces, and you get your money back, while the government deducts less taxes.

Several governments overlook this issue so as to encourage SMEs to grow, but apparently Big Corp is doing the same. But the government can't do anything because generally speaking, they are all businesses, and there is no statute to differentiate between business sizes, nor that a single person cannot own multiple businesses of different sizes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganbaru

I am asking because, beside Canada and China, all the big player seem to be stuck in either debt problem or the Euro crisis, but it could justbe my mistake...

Historically speaking, the West has been stuck in debt since WWII. US sold materiel to the then League of Nations on credit to be repaid after war, and tons of war bonds were issued. After the war, US was sitting on a pile of promises to pay instead of real cash, and they are using accounts receivable to fight Communism, instead of actual equity and capital.

Bottom line? Technically speaking, the entire world is bankrupt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

Ahhh, there is a man who wants to live in China.

The latter means to live in Libya (as of right now). No matter how I look at it, hanging yourself is still the best other option when faced with either of those choices.

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

Living in anywhere else in the world isn't too different from living in the US if you're rich.

Fixed for accuracy.

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

Yep... it's the matter of how much you pay for the local thugs to leave you alone.

There are three solutions for the local thugs actually. One way is to sell drugs and weapons to the thugs at a discount so they don't bother you, another is to pay a politician to enforce legal protection (police or government paramilitary), while the last one, commonly seen in Cambodia and Myanmar, raise a private army.

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

The "private army" issue is not as bad in Cambodia, though ol' Hun Sen is very touchy about his (and many deputies') Khmer Rouge past. In Myanmar.... the private armies are about as well equipped as the national army.

Historically speaking, the West has been stuck in debt since WWII. US sold materiel to the then League of Nations on credit to be repaid after war, and tons of war bonds were issued. After the war, US was sitting on a pile of promises to pay instead of real cash, and they are using accounts receivable to fight Communism, instead of actual equity and capital.

Bottom line? Technically speaking, the entire world is bankrupt.

Well, until recently all these countries were paying down their debt, so it wasn't a huge issue.

Also, most of these countries were indebted to their own citizens, so it wasn't a huge issue either. Generally speaking Government debt is okay when it's to it's own citizens, as it means that the money spent on interest stays within the economy. It's when debt is held by foreigners that there's greater problems.

I think the UK is relatively unscathed by the crises hitting the world at the moment. Canada as well.

Security experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

I think the UK is relatively unscathed by the crises hitting the world at the moment. Canada as well.

The UK is in a worse condition then most of northern Europe. Like France and Germany, it has a strong bank exposure to the PIIGS, so being outside of the Euro zone doensn't help. The UK runs the highest deficit in the OECD and the country sits on a massive pile of private debt while having a large financial sector. not the healthiest place to park capital atm.

The "private army" issue is not as bad in Cambodia, though ol' Hun Sen is very touchy about his (and many deputies') Khmer Rouge past. In Myanmar.... the private armies are about as well equipped as the national army.

I think the Burmese private armies are better equipped, because of international oversight and non-recognition, they could smuggle in arms from everywhere. Norinco isn't helping by funnelling arms to any faction that could pay them.

I heard semi-confirmed rumours that STK was selling the SAR-21 to one of the factions in Myanmar, under the cover of radar though. That'd certainly be the biggest joke if they are attempting to fight a conflict with that weapon.

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

The UK is in a worse condition then most of northern Europe. Like France and Germany, it has a strong bank exposure to the PIIGS, so being outside of the Euro zone doensn't help. The UK runs the highest deficit in the OECD and the country sits on a massive pile of private debt while having a large financial sector. not the healthiest place to park capital atm.

Has a big private debt problem, but doesn't have the same magnitude of debt problems PIIGs have. I'd say it's a bit worse then France and Germany, but I think this is offset from not being in the Euro.

It's also been able to pass debt cutting measures with relatively little fanfare or controversy. They probably had the most difficulty with student tuition hikes, but even that passed...

Canada is probably the best off. Maybe Singapore? Australia? I don't think Norway is particularly exposed either, and Sweden and Denmark aren't too badly off either.

Has a big private debt problem, but doesn't have the same magnitude of debt problems PIIGs have. I'd say it's a bit worse then France and Germany, but I think this is offset from not being in the Euro.

It's also been able to pass debt cutting measures with relatively little fanfare or controversy. They probably had the most difficulty with student tuition hikes, but even that passed...

Canada is probably the best off. Maybe Singapore? Australia? I don't think Norway is particularly exposed either, and Sweden and Denmark aren't too badly off either.

Singapore is at a pretty edgy road, speaking as someone who lives here. The problem right now is that our inflation rate is at a bloody high 5.2% with a goddamn low interest rate of 0.4%. There is so much free and hot money flying around that it is hurting those who cannot borrow (i.e those who do not meet the minimum gross salary requirement, middle-low income families, under 18, etc) with high and rising prices, while our government is paying lip service to rein in the finances.

The next time I hear "rising oil prices" or "US/Euro debt problem" as an excuse, I am going to write an open letter and super-glue it to the entrance of the Parliament house. The real problem is with MAS's rulings that is not benefiting the middle-low income classes, raise the goddamn interest rates or lower the gross requirement to borrow.

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

the trial won't last for very long (probably a few weeks at most).
but he probably won't get put to death Saddam style (believe it or not, Mubarak has more then a few friends in the west).
more likely, death penalty that would be reduced to life in prison.

wait...
there was ANOTHER incident like this in the past ?
what, someone playing at battle royal ?

A pizza delivery guy was supposedly kidnapped, had a bomb strapped around his neck and told to rob a bank. Turns out the guy was in on it too, and the bomb was supposed to be used as a way to deflect police attention if he was caught. Though apparently he was told the bomb was going to be fake.